There has been a trend in the power generation industry to move from analog based meters to solid state meters. Concerns for reliability, low power consumption, and low cost manufacturing make the use of integrated circuits very desirable for as many metering functions as possible. The meter must be as resistant as possible to lightning and power transients on the line in which the current is being measured. Further, the range of power consumption levels that must be measured by a particular meter varies greatly. With existing meters, there is generally accurate measure of power consumption at relatively high levels of power consumption. However, there has historically been substantial inaccuracies in measured power at low levels of power consumption.
While there are known solid state meters, there remains a need in the industry for such meters that exhibit enhanced characteristics, as will be described. One such characteristic is that there is a need in the industry to electronically isolate the electronics that sense power consumption in the meter from the power line. Such isolation gives the meter increased protection from lightning and power transients. A further characteristic is that there is additionally a need to accurately sense watt hour consumption over a wide range of power usage. This is especially critical at low power levels, where meter resolution and accuracy has been lacking.